|
Blacks, Catholics Lobby For Halt to Md. Executions
By
Matthew Moskand Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 26, 2001;
A coalition of blacks and Catholics in the Maryland
General Assembly are pushing for legislation to halt executions, at
least temporarily, while scholars determine whether the death
penalty is being administered fairly in Maryland.
The effort comes as the state prepares to execute as
many as four prisoners this year -- including one who could die
while lawmakers are in the midst of their 90-day session. That
number would be unprecedented; since capital punishment was
restored in the state in 1978, just three convicts have been
executed.
Lawmakers agree a moratorium could win enough support
to pass the House of Delegates. But the legislation faces an uphill
battle, given that it is opposed by both the Senate president and
the governor.
The resurrection of the issue in Annapolis reflects
growing national concern over flaws in the criminal justice system
that may allow the execution of innocents. Illinois Gov. George
Ryan (R) imposed the first moratorium in the nation in 1999, after
judges there freed 13 men who had been wrongly condemned to die.
Since then, city leaders in Atlanta, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, San Francisco and even conservative towns such as
Greensboro, N.C., have passed resolutions asking state leaders to
reexamine the death penalty -- even though popular support for
capital punishment remains high.
In Maryland, where polls consistently show two-thirds
of voters support the death penalty, moratorium proponents are
concerned that blacks outnumber whites on death row by one of the
highest margins in the nation. Ten of 16 condemned men are black,
including three of the four facing execution this year.
The moratorium measure, expected to be introduced next
week, would halt all executions until the completion of a $225,000
study examining the system for evidence of racial bias. The study
is expected to be finished in 2002.
Unlike last year, the moratorium effort now boasts the
heavyweight leadership of Senate Majority Leader Clarence Blount (D-Baltimore),
the Senate's most senior member and a close ally of Senate
President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. Advocates hope Blount's support
will carry the bill through an unfriendly Senate.
Black leaders in the House plan a public campaign for
the bill, beginning with a news conference next week. They said
they will attempt to corral a "yes" vote from every
African American lawmaker.
The chief lobbyist for the Maryland Catholic Conference,
Richard J. Dowling, said he, too, will make a "very
considerable effort" to see it passed.
Supporters argue there is no logic in continuing to
administer lethal injections while there is some question about
whether capital punishment is meted out fairly in Maryland.
"Whether you're for or against the death penalty,
I don't see where [the moratorium] hurts anything," Blount
said.
A number of key Democrats, though, remain adamantly
opposed to the moratorium idea. Sen. Miller (D-Prince George's)
said he plans to draft a bill instead to guarantee post-conviction
DNA testing for any death row inmate who requests it -- an idea
under consideration in Virginia.
"I remain firmly committed to support the death
penalty," Miller said. "There are cases where I feel it
is absolutely, positively, unequivocally, appropriate." Miller
noted a recent Montana case in which a man was accused of killing a
10-year-old boy and then serving him to neighbors for dinner.
Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) also opposes a moratorium.
His spokesman, Michael Morrill, said the governor conducts an
exhaustive review of every capital murder case before ordering an
execution. If there were evidence of racial discrimination, Morrill
said, it would be caught and corrected either by appeals courts or
during the governor's
|
